A Cairo court is expected to deliver a verdict Thursday for the Canadian journalist being tried on widely denounced terror charges and as the day approaches, Fahmy is hoping for the best but bracing for the worst.

“In order to survive I have to think positively,” he told The Canadian Press. “But the uncertainty is just horrible.”

Fahmy was the Cairo bureau chief for Qatar-based satellite news broadcaster Al Jazeera English when he and two colleagues were arrested in December 2013.

They were charged with a slew of offences, including supporting the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, a banned organization affiliated with ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, and with fabricating footage to undermine the country’s national security.

The trio maintained their innocence, saying they were just doing their jobs, but after a trial which was internationally decried as a sham, they were convicted and sentenced to prison terms. A successful appeal resulted in a retrial which is set to end this week.

Fahmy, who was granted bail in February after more than a year in prison, is fervently hoping for a verdict that won’t send him back to prison, but notes that his case is complicated.

“As much as we know we are completely innocent, we also know this trial is politicized and that factors other than evidence are going to be game changers,” he said. “ I am a pawn in Egypt and Qatar’s rift.”

Egypt and Qatar have had tense relations since 2013, when the Egyptian military ousted Morsi amid massive protests. Qatar is a strong backer of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and Cairo accuses the state-owned Al Jazeera of being a mouthpiece for Morsi’s supporters — charges denied by the broadcaster.

AP Photo/Roger Anis, El ShoroukAl-Jazeera English journalist Canadian Mohamed Fahmy, shows his temporary Canadian Passport in front of a court near Tora prison in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, April 22, 2015.

Fahmy said there are a number of possible outcomes for him on Thursday — incarceration, a suspended sentence, a sentence that credits him for time already spent in prison, or a not-guilty finding, though he said “it would be naive” to expect one.

In his favour is the fact that a technical committee tasked with examining work by him and his colleagues found there had been no fabrication in their reporting. Fahmy also hopes his legal team convinced the judge that he and his colleagues had nothing to do with the Muslim Brotherhood.

But evidence that Al Jazeera didn’t have the necessary licences for its journalists in Egypt — something which led Fahmy to launch a lawsuit against the broadcaster — is extremely worrisome, he said.

“I explained to the judge that we had no clue,” Fahmy said. “I told the judge he should separate between the responsibilities of the journalists and the responsibilities of the network.”

Buoying Fahmy’s hopes, however, is a sense that the Canadian government is now in his corner.

The federal government’s support for Fahmy had been called into question after one of his co-accused — Australian Peter Greste — was allowed to leave Egypt under a law which allows for the deportation of foreign nationals convicted of crimes.
Fahmy gave up his dual Egyptian citizenship while behind bars in the hopes that he could follow the same path, but that didn’t happen.

“I feel that the Canadian government and my lawyers this time around have a very solid plan and strategy,” he said, adding that Ottawa has agreed to endorse a deportation request and a pardon request prepared by his lawyers in case he’s ordered back to prison.

Canada’s minister of state for consular affairs said the government, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, has raised Fahmy’s case with Egyptian officials “at the highest level” and would continue to do so.

“Canada calls on the Egyptian government to use all tools at their disposal to allow for the resolution of Mr. Fahmy’s case and allow for his immediate return to Canada,” Lynne Yelich told The Canadian Press. “Canada continues to advocate for the same treatment of Mr. Fahmy as other foreign nationals have received.”

Fahmy’s high-profile lawyer, Amal Clooney, said she hoped her client’s “nightmare” would end in the delivery of his verdict, but noted that she was ready to work on his immediate release if he was sent back to prison.

“He has already been subjected to an unfair trial,” she said in an email. “If the new panel of judges again sends an innocent journalist to prison, it will be a dark day for Egypt.”

To get through the next few days, Fahmy is focusing on his return to Vancouver, where he hopes for a fresh start.

Part of that new life will include an appointment as an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia’s school of journalism, as well as a book he is writing about his experiences.

“I’m trying to move on with my life,” he said.“ I want to pick up the pieces and continue with my career.”

Fahmy moved to Canada with his family in 1991, living in Montreal and Vancouver for years before eventually moving abroad for work, which included covering stories for the New York Times and CNN.

President Barack Obama on Monday commuted the prison sentences of dozens of people convicted of nonviolent federal drug crimes, part of his effort to address disparities in the criminal justice system.

Obama announced he had granted clemency to 46 men and women in a video posted to the White House website. Almost all of those who were freed by the president would have already completed their sentences if they had been convicted under current laws, Neil Eggleston, counsel to the president, said in a White House blog post.

“Their punishments didn’t fit the crime.”

Obama has said he wants to use commutations to help address a prison system that is too costly and disproportionately locks up people of colour.

“Over the past few years, a lot of people have become aware of the inequities in the criminal justice system — the fact that we spend over $80 billion a year incarcerating people who oftentimes have only been engaged in nonviolent drug offenses,” Obama said in the video.

The vast majority of those receiving commutations had been sentenced to more than 20 years in jail for their drug offenses, while 14 had received life sentences.

“Their punishments didn’t fit the crime,” Obama said.

Monday’s 46 commutations are the most in a single day since the administration of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, and bring the total number of commutations under Obama to 89. That surpasses the number of commutations — 88 — granted by Obama’s four predecessors combined.
Criminal Justice

The clemency announcement kicks off a week focused on criminal justice policy. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Obama will present ideas for a “safer, fairer and more effective” justice system during a speech Tuesday in Philadelphia at the annual convention of the NAACP.

Later in the week, Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit a federal prison when he speaks at a medium- security facility in El Reno, Oklahoma. While there, he’ll tape an interview with Vice News for a documentary on the criminal justice system.

The White House is hopeful Obama may win congressional passage of a package of broader sentencing reforms this month. Leading Republicans, including Senator Mike Lee of Utah and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, of Virginia, have said they would support legislation reducing sentences for nonviolent crimes.

“It is important to recognize that clemency alone will not fix decades of overly punitive sentencing policies,” Eggleston said in the blog post.

Last year, the Justice Department said it would encourage drug offenders without gang ties or a history of violent criminal behavior to apply for the clemency program. The program is intended to benefit people who have served more than a decade in jail with good conduct and who would be eligible for shorter sentences today.

In 2010, Obama signed legislation that reduced harsher sentences for possession of crack cocaine, compared to equivalent amounts of the powder form of the drug. The administration announced in 2014 new rules to ensure that people who commit relatively minor, nonviolent drug offenses would no longer be charged with federal crimes carrying strict mandatory minimum sentences.

The report by the University of Toronto’s International Human Rights Program finds that Canada Border Services Agency has become more heavy handed in dealing with migrants with little or no accountability.

Renu Mandhane, a criminal lawyer and the program’s executive director, said the report reveals “shocking gaps” in the rule of law.

“A CBSA officer essentially has the discretion to determine that somebody should be held in maximum-security jail conditions,” Mandhane said Wednesday in an interview.

“It was really surprising to me…that decision was totally discretionary and also not subject to any rules.”

The report, called “We Have No Rights”, concludes incarceration can have a catastrophic impact on migrants’ mental health. It contains harrowing profiles of detainees imprisoned for as long as eight years who talk of a lack of access to support services, confinement in cold windowless cells, their despair.

“They treat us like garbage,” one inmate told researchers. “We had no rights at all.”

Figures show Canada detained more than 7,300 migrants at a cost of more than $50 million in 2013. About one third were incarcerated in jails, even though few might be considered criminals. A Red Cross report found more than 2,000 foreigners in Ontario jails in 2012.

No One Is IllegalA rally held outside a Toronto Immigration Holding Centre calling for an end to migrant detentions in Canada, in November 2014.

Reg Williams, a director of CBSA immigration enforcement from 2004 until 2012, said the agency has become increasingly “paramilitaristic” with an emphasis on force rather than co-operation.

Detainees have become little more than a file that no one wants to open, leading to detentions that have become “more akin to storage,” he said.

“The dramatic plunge in removals accompanied by a disproportionate rise in detention since 2012 are huge red flags pointing to a detentions program that is out of control,” Williams said in an interview.

The report for the law faculty’s rights program by students Hanna Gros and Paloma van Groll notes the especially troubling problem of jailing migrants with mental-health issues.

In every case, they say, detention in a provincial jail, even for a short period, exacerbated mental-health issues or created new ones.

An agency spokesman said “it is not the practice of the CBSA to comment on third party documents.”

The report makes several recommendations, foremost is one that calls for the creation of an independent body or ombudsman to oversee and investigate the border services agency and to whom immigration detainees can complain.

It also urges alternatives to detention and, in keeping with practices in the United States and Europe, creating a presumption against jailing that lasts beyond 90 days with court oversight for longer stretches.

In a foreword, Prof. James Hathaway of the University of Michigan Law School says what happens in Canada goes much further than protecting the public.

Several coroners inquests into migrant detainees who have killed themselves or died of medical-related causes as well as the Canadian Red Cross have criticized CBSA’s punitive approach over the years.

Syed Hussan, with the activist End Immigration Detention Network, said jailing non-criminal migrants must stop.

“For those suffering with prior histories of trauma, immigration detention can be deadly,” Hussan said.

“Separation from families, no comprehensive judicial review process, and lack of adequate services in the prison means that detention causes severe stress, depression and degradation of health.”

The International Human Rights Program plans to present its report to the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva next month.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/they-treat-us-like-garbage-canadas-rising-immigrant-detentions-operate-in-a-legal-black-hole-report-says/feed1std10604088_659552554161791_6656687992861407669_oNo One Is Illegal‘Nut Rage’ airline executive freed from South Korea jail after five monthshttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/nut-rage-airline-executive-freed-from-south-korea-jail-after-five-months
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/nut-rage-airline-executive-freed-from-south-korea-jail-after-five-months#commentsFri, 22 May 2015 15:06:23 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=778382

SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean court on Friday suspended the prison term of a former Korean Air executive whose onboard “nut rage” tantrum delayed a flight last year, immediately ending her incarceration.

The Seoul High Court said Cho Hyun-ah, who is the daughter of the airline’s chairman, did not violate the aviation security law when she ordered the chief flight attendant off a Dec. 5 flight, forcing it to return to the gate at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.

The upper court sentenced Cho to 10 months in prison for assault and then suspended the sentence for two years. A lower court had earlier sentenced Cho to a year in prison. She has been locked up since her December arrest.

Cho achieved worldwide notoriety after an onboard tantrum triggered when a first class flight attendant served her macadamia nuts in a bag instead of on a dish. Cho, head of the airline’s cabin service at the time, had a heated, physical confrontation with members of the crew.

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Swarmed by reporters at the court, she made no comment in front of TV cameras, bowing her head and burying her face in her hands as the media pressed in and yelled for her to say something.

The nut rage incident was a lightning rod for anger in a country where the economy is dominated by family-run conglomerates known as chaebol that often act above the law.

“If she was released because she showed repentance, other criminals should be equally released,” said 19-year-old college student Kim Ryeong-hui. “I think the court went easy on her. I feel angry when people mistreat other people in lower ranks.”

The lower court had convicted Cho of forcing a flight to change its route, obstructing the flight’s captain in the performance of his duties, forcing a crew member off a plane and assaulting a crew member. It found her not guilty of interfering with a transport ministry investigation into the incident. Cho pleaded not guilty and prosecutors had called for three years in prison.

If she was released because she showed repentance, other criminals should be equally released

The aviation security law is meant to regulate highly dangerous acts such as hijacking. But the upper court said Friday that there wasn’t a big safety threat posed by Cho’s actions, and returning a plane that was taxiing did not constitute forcing a change in the plane’s route.

Kim Sang-hwan, head of the three-judge upper court panel, said that even though Cho used violence against crew members, she should be given a second chance. The judge also cited her “internal change” since she began serving her prison term as a reason for lessening the sentence.

The upper court also took into consideration that Cho is the mother of 2-year-old twins and had not committed an offense before. She has resigned from her position at the airline.

“It appears that she will have to live under heavy criticism from society,” Kim said.

Indonesia’s plan to press ahead with its execution of foreign drug traffickers has increased fears for British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford, a cocaine smuggler who is among an estimated 30 foreign traffickers left on death row.

Eight prisoners — including two Australians — were executed by firing squad on Tuesday night, with Indonesia declaring on Wednesday it had “no misses.”

Tony Abbott, Australia’s prime minister, condemned the “cruel and unnecessary” execution of the two rehabilitated Australian prisoners, London-born Myuran Sukumaran, 34, and Andrew Chan, 31, and took the unprecedented step of withdrawing the country’s ambassador.

The eight men — a female Filipino trafficker was given a last-minute temporary stay of execution — were dressed in special white suits and executed shortly after midnight on a prison island. They apparently sang Amazing Grace and Bless the Lord O My Soul and refused blindfolds before being shot.

Sandiford, from Redcar in Teesside, was jailed in Bali in 2012 for smuggling cocaine worth an estimated $3 million from Thailand. She is trying to raise funds to mount an appeal against her sentence in Indonesia’s supreme court. She said on Wednesday that she was “deeply saddened” over the executions.

This year has already had the greatest number of executions in a single year in Indonesia, but no date has yet been set for the next round.

In a statement issued from jail in Bali, Sandiford, 58, said: “I am deeply saddened to learn that Myuran Sukumaran and my dear friend Andrew Chan have been executed … The men shot dead today were reformed men – good men who transformed the lives of people around them. Their senseless, brutal deaths leave the world a poorer place.”

The two Australians were sentenced to death in 2005 for overseeing a heroin smuggling ring.

In her statement, Sandiford said Chan, who become a devout Christian in jail, was a “close friend and confidante.”

“He counselled and helped me through exceptionally difficult times after I was sentenced to death in 2013,” she said.

“Myu and Andrew used their time in Kerobokan [jail] to make life better for everyone around them. They introduced the concept of rehabilitation to a prison that never had it before.

“They organised painting classes, cookery classes and computer classes, and gave practical help to make sure the poorest prisoners had food, clothing and essentials. Whoever they were and wherever they were from, they made sure inmates who were sick got access to healthcare and hospital services which are not covered by the prison budget.

Sandiford has reportedly started to give up hope and said “I just want to get it over with,” according to an unnamed friend quoted by a news website. Her lawyers said earlier this month she plans to appeal to the supreme court for a full retrial.

The analogy is imperfect, but if this isn’t akin to the cover-up being worse than the crime, it’s certainly an instance where the conspiracy is more interesting — and offensive — than the original sin.

In the result, the better story is not what Ontario Court Judge Harvey Brownstone said, but that it’s being used as part of a smear campaign against his candidacy for the soon-to-be-vacant Chief Justice’s job.

The current CJ, Annemarie Bonkalo, will step down in May.

The Ontario Court is the former provincial court, the largest and one of the busiest in Canada. The CJ and associate chief justices are appointed by the premier of the day, though the announcement comes out of the provincial attorney general’s office.

It works the same for federally appointed judges, where the prime minister picks the CJs of each province’s superior court and the associate chief justices.

At both levels, those interested in the top job quietly let it be known that they are “willing to serve,” as the saying goes.

And in this case, two candidates have emerged: Judge Brownstone and Judge Lise Maisonneuve, who was elevated to Associate Chief Judge in 2013 by then-premier Dalton McGuinty.

FileAnnemarie E. Bonkalo will soon vacate her position as Chief Justice of the Ontario Court of Justice. Is Brownstone's bid to replace her being sabotaged?

Depending on your view, both judges Brownstone and Maisonneuve are equally well-qualified, in that both are bilingual veteran judges, each with a diversity card to play.

Judge Maisonneuve is a woman; Judge Brownstone is the first openly gay judge in Canada.

But Judge Brownstone — who has written a bestselling book about family law and hosted a TV talk show — is also an approachable innovator, and might be seen as a threat to some on the oft-stuffy bench.

Late last month, I got a call from an anonymous tipster, who appeared well-connected to the courts and who told me there was unease on the bench about Judge Brownstone, and nervousness that Premier Kathleen Wynne, who is openly gay herself, might give him the nod.

What gravitas, I thought to myself? This is a rough-and-tumble court. But I was about to leave for Africa, told the caller this, and went off on my trip.

Shortly after I returned, the tipster called again, this time pitching a transcript illustrating Judge Brownstone’s alleged unsuitability.

It arrived in the snail mail last week.

It’s the 28-page transcript of a proceeding before Judge Brownstone on Jan. 19.

It was a guilty plea: A young man named Fosheng Shi was pleading guilty to using an imitation firearm to rob a bank.

On June 18 of 2013, Shi, wearing a ski mask over his mouth, had entered a Bank of Montreal branch, produced a black pellet gun and demanded $1,000 from a teller. She had only $160 in her till, whereupon Shi jumped the counter. The teller used her access code to a lockbox and gave Shi $2,000.

Alas for him, his licence plate was noted as he fled, and he was arrested within 10 days.

The prosecutor was seeking 18 months in jail, with defence lawyer Patrick Sun asking that Shi get pre-trial credit for his 18 months of strict house arrest and receive a 90-day intermittent sentence, so that he could seek full-time work or return to school.

Astonishingly, Shi’s parents — who divorced shortly after the family came to Canada in 2003, each of them remarrying — came up with the $2,000, which Shi actually handed over to the Toronto Police officer in charge of the case to count in court.

“I’m sure the bank will be stunned,” Judge Brownstone said, adding later, “I have never seen restitution paid in a bank robbery case.”

If this proceeding is typical, he’s remarkably frank.

Shi had at his side a Mandarin interpreter, and the judge expressed surprise when Mr. Sun mentioned the family had been in Canada for 11 years.

“And he still needs an interpreter? Has he not learned how to speak and understand English, for 11 years?” he asked.

Mr. Sun explained that Shi had led “a very isolated life,” and had left school and home when he was 15 because he didn’t get along with his stepfather.

Later, in fact, the judge reproached Shi’s parents. “Trust me, neither of you are [sic] going to be nominated for parent of the year. Before you have any more marriages with other people, you better take a good look at what you have done to your son.”

Shi, who is just 23 and had no criminal record, offered an apology for what he’d done.

Judge Brownstone said that if his father hadn’t repaid the stolen money, he’d send him to jail for three years.

As he said, “you didn’t just go in the bank and demand money, you had the nerve and the boldness to jump up onto the counter and go into the bank. If you had the guts to do that, you should be locked up. You are dangerous. Not many bank robbers do that.”

Then Judge Brownstone got to the bit that my anonymous caller thought was so problematic.

“So,” the judge told the young man, “you better watch it, because if you ever get into this kind of trouble again, you could end up in the penitentiary for life.

“Let me tell you something about the penitentiary,” he said.

“You would be very popular. You would make a lot of friends, or let me make it even more clear, they’d like you a lot. You might not like them much.

“Do you get what I’m trying to say, or do you want a demonstration?”

Shi appeared to understand.

You would make a lot of friends, or let me make it even more clear, they’d like you a lot

“Watch it,” Judge Brownstone continued. “I am saying this to protect you. If you ever, ever end up in a penitentiary, you will never come out the same way you went in. You can’t take that risk, not for $2,000, not for a million dollars.”

The judge gave Shi 90 days, to be served on weekends, with an array of conditions — among them, because the young man had had a number of casino cards on him when he was arrested, a two-year ban on entering a casino.

“You go to a casino,” he warned, “you will be charged with breach of probation.

“By the way,” he added, “don’t go dressed in drag, they catch you that way too.”

The interpreter piped up: “Dressed in, sorry?”

Mr. Sun clarified: “Dressed in drag means man dressed like a woman.”

“Yes,” said Judge Brownstone. “Don’t wear a disguise and try to get into a casino, they will catch you.”

I’ve checked: This transcript is making the rounds in the court.

Judge Brownstone wouldn’t comment on the judicial appointment process, but remembered the case. “I stand behind what I said,” he told the Post. “It’s very important to convey to young people that the penitentiary isn’t a walk in the park.”

I can’t rouse myself to be offended by a single word he said that day; give me a plain-spoken human being over a robotic conventional judge any day. But I’m sure troubled that someone is using the transcript to try to sink him.

ALBANY, N.Y. – Notorious cop killer Anthony Bottom will have to serve his life sentence in Attica without premium cable.

An Albany-based appeals court rejected a legal appeal by Bottom, 63, to get the top-notch service – and monthly cable packages to boot.

Bottom – now known as Jalil Muntaqim – a former member of the radical Black Liberation Army, was sentenced to serve 25 years to life in prison for each of the ambush murders of New York City police officers Joseph Piagentini, 28, and Waverly Jones, 33.

On May 21, 1971, the officers were shot multiple times outside a Harlem housing project near the Macombs Dam Bridge.

Then decades later, Bottom pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in California for his role in the shotgun slaying of San Francisco police Sgt. John Young, 51, who was gunned down at his desk in a police station on Aug. 29, 1971. A civilian clerk was wounded.

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Bottom has been serving time at Attica Correctional Facility, a maximum-security lock-up that is designated by the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision as a “TV facility.” That means inmates are allowed to own and operate personal televisions as long as the majority of affected prisoners vote in favor of it.

The type of packages the convicts can get are restricted but they can get premium cable if a special inmate liaison committee determines that the population is in favor of it.

Bottom, apparently not pleased with the television options available to him, filed a grievance in October 2012 “pertaining to the lack of access to premium television channels at Attica,” the court decision noted Wednesday.

He was rejected by the prison’s superintendent, a committee and state Supreme Court Justice Richard Mott in Albany.

The killer took the issue to the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, acting as his own lawyer.

He argued there was never a proper vote by inmates on the issue of personal television. He sought an order “compelling (state prison officials) to, among other things, allow petitioner to receive monthly packages and directing (the officials) to conduct an inmate vote.”

The Appellate Division did not go for it.

As we discern no irrationality or error of law in the denial of petitioner’s grievance, it will not be disturbed

“As we discern no irrationality or error of law in the denial of petitioner’s grievance, it will not be disturbed,” stated the decision by Appellate Justice Eugene “Gus” Devine. It was backed by Justices John Lahtinen, Michael Lynch and John Egan.

Bottom was convicted of the New York City killings along with Herman Bell, 67, who is serving his life sentence at maximum-security Great Meadow Correctional Facility in Washington County and Albert ”Nuh” Washington, who died at 60 in maximum-security Coxsackie Correctional Facility.

Bell also pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for his role in the killing of the San Francisco police sergeant.

Six inmates led by a mob boss committed suicide at a prison in Taiwan early Thursday after a failed breakout attempt in which they seized weapons and held a warden and guards hostage, officials said. All the hostages were safe.

The inmates started their attempt Wednesday afternoon in the southern port city of Kaohsiung. In a telephone interview with a newspaper during the overnight standoff, the 46-year-old ringleader said the six had long planned the move and were prepared to die. He also complained about long sentences and unfairness in the granting of medical paroles.

Deputy Justice Minister Chen Ming-tang said officials rejected the group’s demands for safe passage out of the prison and had tried to convince them to surrender peacefully during hours of negotiations.

“We tried to give them assurances so they wouldn’t do something stupid and to reconsider, but sadly they committed suicide and we feel deep regret,” Chen told a news conference in Taipei.

Chen said five prison staff were slightly injured in the standoff, but did not elaborate.

By the pre-dawn hours, the inmates had released all hostages except the warden. They then shot themselves, and the warden was able to walk free, Chen said.

The ministry did not offer any video or other evidence of the suicides, but there was no sign during the standoff of a raid by police who ringed the Kaohsiung Prison in scenes that were broadcast by Taiwan stations.

Chen said four of the inmates shot themselves first and that the remaining two had fired additional shots at them to make sure they were dead before shooting themselves, at about 5:30 a.m. Thursday.

JOHNSON LIU/AFP/Getty ImagesThe group of prisoners at a jail in southern Taiwan that took three staff hostage demanded that they be released, complaining about their lengthy sentences and claiming their trials were unfair, officials said.

The inmates ranged in age from 37 to 63 and were serving sentences for homicide, burglary and drug crimes.

The ringleader, Cheng Li-te, was known as head of the Kaohsiung branch of the notorious mafia-type organization Bamboo Union and was serving a 28 1/2-year sentence for homicide, the ministry said. The other five inmates were serving sentences ranging from 25 years to life.

According to a timeline given by the Justice Ministry, the incident began at about 3:10 p.m. Wednesday when the six attacked staff at the prison infirmary and stole a prison skeleton key in an attempt to escape.

After finding they were unable to open the prison’s outer door, they attacked other staff with knives and broke into the prison armoury where they stole four rifles, six handguns and ammunition.

The United Daily News said that in the phone call with Cheng he also had complained about the tendency of judges to presume guilt, and to give long sentences to repeat offenders.

By about 4:15 p.m., negotiations were underway over their demands and the release of prison guards taken hostage as police took up positions around the prison.

The inmates demanded safe passage from the prison while holding Warden Chen Shih-chih and head guard Wang Shih-tsang after the pair offered to swap themselves for earlier hostages.

At one point, Cheng’s mother spoke to him by phone, urging him not to act rashly. The group also demanded and received two bottles of sorghum liquor, but continued to refuse to hand over their weapons.

The United Daily News said that in the phone call with Cheng he also had complained about the tendency of judges to presume guilt, and to give long sentences to repeat offenders.

Chen said the inmates fired guns at about midnight to try to shoot down drone cameras deployed by media outlets and again at about 3 a.m. to warn off police.

The ministry said it had rejected demands that the police force be withdrawn and that two vehicles be provided to allow the prisoners to leave in exchange for the safety of the detainees.

The inmates used the need for medical care as a pretense to lure prison guards before kidnapping them, the official Central News Agency said.

The ministry said Deputy Warden Lai Chen-jung and head guard Wang volunteered to swap with the two guards who were initially taken hostage. Later, Chen, the prison warden, offered to exchange with Lai as a hostage.

Drew Peterson, the former suburban Chicago police officer convicted of killing his third wife and suspected in the disappearance of his fourth, has been charged with trying to hire someone to kill the prosecutor who helped put him in state prison, authorities announced Monday.

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Peterson appeared in court on charges that between September 2013 and December 2014, while behind bars, he solicited a person to find someone he could pay to kill Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow. Peterson did not enter a plea.

Peterson, 61, has been in prison since he was convicted in 2012 of first-degree murder in the 2004 bathtub drowning of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Savio’s death initially was ruled an accident, but after Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, disappeared in 2007, Savio’s body was exhumed and her death was ruled a homicide.

Glasgow’s office charged Drew Peterson with murder and in 2012 the former Bolingbrook police sergeant was convicted and sentenced to 38 years in state prison.

The latest complaint was filed by both the Illinois attorney general’s office and the prosecutor in Randolph County — the location of Menard Correctional Center, where Peterson is serving his sentence. In the two-page complaint, Peterson is charged with solicitation of murder for hire and one count of solicitation of murder, both felonies carrying a maximum sentence of at least 30 years in prison.

Peterson attorney Steven Greenberg said the charges “seem a bit absurd” because Peterson would have nothing to gain by trying to have Glasgow killed.

“This is completely out of character and inconsistent with everything I know about (Peterson),” Greenberg said. “I’ll wait to see what evidence they have.”

Monday’s announcement is the latest chapter in a case that became a media sensation almost from the day Peterson’s 23-year-old fourth wife, Stacy, disappeared in 2007. As a massive effort to find her grew to include divers and cadaver dogs searching ponds and thick wooded areas near Peterson’s Bolingbrook home, news trucks lined his street.

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, FileIn this Feb. 21, 2013 file photo, Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow talks to reporters in Joliet, Illinois, after a judge rejected a defense retrial motion for Drew Peterson and then sentenced Peterson to 38 years in prison for the 2004 murder of his third wife Kathleen Savio.

The search ultimately was unsuccessful, with Peterson accused but never charged with the slaying of his young wife.

But after Savio’s body was exhumed and authorities ruled her drowning a homicide, Peterson was interviewed countless times by news crews and, as the investigation continued, he joked about a “Win a Date with Drew” contest and discussed appearing on a reality TV show about a Nevada brothel.

Throughout it all, Peterson maintained his innocence and his attorneys contended Stacy Peterson had run off with another man and was alive.

AP Photo/Illinois Department of CorrectionsThis undated photo provided by the Illinois Department of Corrections shows Drew Peterson who has been charged with trying to hire someone to kill the prosecutor who convicted Peterson of killing his third wife.

Drew Peterson did not testify at his trial, but addressed the court after he was convicted, blaming prosecutors for “the largest railroad job ever” and sarcastically telling Glasgow that the prosecutor could celebrate because he had destroyed Peterson’s life.

He challenged the prosecutor to look him in the eyes then told him to “never forget what you’ve done here.”

Glasgow issued a brief statement after the new charges against Peterson were announced Monday, saying that while it was “unfortunate that prosecutors sometimes must deal with allegations of this nature,” he would not let a threat to his personal safety affect the way he does his job.

File/HO/APThis is an undated photo of Stacy Peterson, the fourth wife of Drew Peterson. Stacy has been missing since Oct. 2007 and Drew is suspected in her disappearance.

A 26-year-old woman with the nickname Star who says she is going to marry 80-year-old mass murderer Charles Manson will have to wait a while longer.

Afton Elaine Burton and Manson got a marriage licence last year to stage a wedding inside a visiting room at California State Prison, Corcoran.

However, it expires Thursday, meaning they missed their chance to tie the knot over the weekend, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Jeffrey Callison said Monday.
Weddings are not held on weekdays at the prison.

If the wedding is ever going to happen, the couple must register for a new Kings County marriage licence.

Burton, who says she loves Manson, left her home in Illinois and has spent the last nine years living near the Central California prison.

Burton, who maintains websites espousing Manson’s innocence, has not responded to recent requests seeking comment on the relationship. Shortly after obtaining the licence, she told the Associated Press the nuptials were imminent: “Y’all can know that it’s true,” she said in November. “It’s going to happen.”

The expiring licence indicates that Burton intends to take Manson’s last name, if they are married.

James McGrath, a New York City photo agency editor, said he maintains contact with Burton and she intends to obtain another 90-day license and go ahead with the marriage.

Manson became notorious in 1969 as the leader of a “family” of young killers.

Manson follower Susan Atkins died of cancer behind bars, but Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel remain imprisoned. So do Charles “Tex” Watson, Bruce Davis and Robert Beausoleil, who is expected to have a parole hearing Feb. 19. Manson is eligible for parole next in 2027.

The two sons of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak were released from prison Monday, nearly four years after they were first arrested along with their father, authorities said.

Security officials said the pair, wealthy businessman Alaa and Mubarak’s one-time heir apparent Gamal, walked free from Torah Prison in a southern Cairo suburb shortly after daybreak and headed to their respective homes in the capital’s upscale Heliopolis suburb.

Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim, who is in charge of police and prisons, confirmed the release of the two, but would not say when they walked free. There has been intense speculation among activists in Cairo that they may actually have been secretly freed over the weekend.

The two, along with their father, still face a retrial on corruption charges, for which a date has yet to be set. Separately, the two sons also face trial on insider trading charges. Hearings resume in March. They had been acquitted of other charges.

Mubarak, 86 and ailing, stepped down in February 2011 in the face of a popular uprising. He and his two sons were arrested in April that year. Mubarak remains at a military hospital in a southern Cairo suburb although there are no longer any legal grounds for his detention.

The security officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren’t authorized to speak to journalists.

The release of the two had been expected since a Cairo court ordered their release on bail Thursday.

The Mubarak sons were sentenced to four years in prison on charges of using state funds to renovate family residencies. Their father got three years in the case. The sentences were overturned earlier this month.

Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for failing to prevent the killing of some 900 protesters during the 18-day uprising against his rule. That verdict also was overturned on appeal. He was retried but the case was dismissed last month on a technicality.

AP Photo/FileIn this June 2, 2012 file photo, the two sons of ex-President Hosni Mubarak, Gamal, left, and Alaa Mubarak, right, arrive to the police academy courthouse in Cairo, Egypt.

Mubarak’s sons walked free a day after deadly clashes between anti-government protesters and police marked the fourth anniversary of the uprising that ended their father’s 29-year rule. That violence Sunday left at least 23 people dead, including three men authorities said died planting bombs and three police officers, and wounded 97, the Health Ministry reported.

The brothers, particularly Gamal, are viewed by many Egyptians as among the pillars of an authoritarian and corrupt administration that struck an alliance with mega-wealthy businessmen at the expense of the nation’s poor and disadvantaged.

Mubarak was widely believed to have been grooming Gamal to succeed him. The two consistently denied that, but the perceived succession plan, along with corruption, police brutality and poverty, were among the main engines of the 2011 uprising.

The release of the two sons could spark further protests and would certainly fuel the notion among the secular and liberal activists behind the 2011 uprising that the Mubarak regime has been making a comeback since President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, a general-turned-politician, took office in June.

The shooting deaths of two female protesters over the weekend have stoked renewed anger over the police’s use of excessive force. The death of one of the two, 32-year-old Shaimaa el-Sabagh, was captured on several videos that, activists and witnesses claim, point to the police as the perpetrators.

Authorities say they are investigating the incident. On Monday, Ibrahim offered his condolences to el-Sabagh’s family during a news conference carried live on multiple television channels. He called her a “martyr” and vowed to hand over for trial any member of the police force charged by prosecutors in the case.

“There may have been violations but that must not be blamed on an entire agency (police) that safeguards internal security,” he said. “Whoever did it must alone be held accountable.”

AP Photo/Ahmed Gomaa, FileIn this July 9, 2012 file photo, Alaa Mubarak, son of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, listens to court proceedings from the defendants' cage in a courtroom in Cairo, Egypt.

The death of el-Sabagh has fuelled widespread criticism, even from among the state’s own supporters.

In an unusually critical column published Monday, the chairman of Egypt’s state-run daily Al-Ahram newspaper specifically called out the country’s president as being responsible for protecting the public after el-Sabagh’s death. Ahmed Sayed el-Naggar blamed what he called overzealous police for the killing.

“The rights of Shaimaa rest on our shoulders, especially on those of the elected president (el-Sissi), who is in charge of protecting the lives of the children of this nation at least from the abuse of authority,” he wrote.

El-Naggar also warned that such abuses are alienating youth groups as well as el-Sissi’s own supporters, bringing “the state closer to the policies that people revolted against in the first place.”

The placement of federal inmates in solitary confinement is “cruel and usual punishment” in Canada’s prisons and should be severely curtailed, says a new editorial in the nation’s leading medical journal.

Noting that there are 850 offenders in isolation on any given day — a 6.4% increase over the past five years — the editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal said the lack of stimulation and social interaction can lead to anxiety, depression and anger and increases the risk of self-harm and suicide.

“Isolated prisoners have difficulty separating reality from their own thoughts, which may lead to confused thought processes, perceptual distortions, paranoia and psychosis,” wrote Dr. Diane Kelsall, a CMAJ deputy editor. “In addition to the worsening of pre-existing medical conditions, offenders may experience physical effects, such as lethargy, insomnia, palpitations and anorexia.”

Inmates should be placed in isolation only in “exceptional circumstances” for their own safety or for the safety of others and for the shortest possible time, the editorial said. It noted that 16% of those in segregation are there for more than four months.

Sara Parkes, a spokeswoman for the Correctional Service of Canada, said in a statement that segregation is used only as a “last resort” to manage an inmate whose safety is at risk; who jeopardizes the security of the prison, other inmates or staff; or who might interfere with an investigation. “It is not a form of punishment.”

“Canadian law and correctional policy allows for the use of administrative segregation in limited circumstances, when there is no reasonable alternative and for the shortest period of time necessary,” she wrote.

Within 24 hours of being placed in segregation, an offender’s mental health and physical needs are assessed by a healthcare professional and referrals to a psychologist are made as required. Decisions are reviewed regularly, she said.

A “growing body of literature” shows that solitary confinement can change brain activity within the first week, according to the CMAJ editorial. For some people, segregation can have long-term effects, including impaired memory, confusion, depression, phobias and personality changes, and runs counter to the goal of preparing offenders for release to the community, the editorial said.

This is not the first time concerns have been raised about the use of segregation in federal prisons. Canada’s corrections watchdog, Howard Sapers, mentioned in his most recent annual report the ongoing problem of suicides that are taking place in segregation units, where monitoring of inmates should be at its closest.

“The majority of those who take their own life in prison have a history of mental health problems, previous suicide attempts and/or self-harming behaviour,” he wrote. “This finding is related to the Service’s refusal to prohibit long-term segregation of mentally disordered inmates or those at risk of suicide or serious self-injury.”

Last December, an Ontario coroner’s jury examining the death of Ashley Smith — the troubled 19-year-old who choked to death after tying a piece of cloth around her neck in a segregation cell — recommended that the Correctional Service of Canada restrict the use of segregation to 15 consecutive days.

The jury said it agreed with a 2011 report by a United Nations torture expert that said indefinite segregation should be abolished.

UN Special Rapporteur Juan E. Mendez also found that there should be an absolute prohibition on the use of solitary confinement in the case of juveniles and people with mental disabilities.

“Solitary confinement is a harsh measure which is contrary to rehabilitation, the aim of the penitentiary system,” he said at the time.

By the numbers:

850: number of offenders in solitary confinement in Canada on any given day (represents about 5.6 per cent of the prison population)35: average length of stay in isolation for men (in days)7: average length of stay in isolation for women (in days)16: percent of inmates segregated for more than four months14: number of suicides that occurred while in segregation over the past three years (out of 30 total suicides)Source: Canadian Medical Association Journal

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/solitary-confinement-is-cruel-and-usual-punishment-canadian-medical-association/feed14stdThe general inmate facility is pictured at the Toronto South Detention Centre in Toronto on Oct. 3, 2013.Slain RCMP officers’ families would be traumatized if Bourque exhibits are released: Crownhttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/slain-rcmp-officers-families-would-be-traumatized-if-bourque-exhibits-are-released-crown
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/slain-rcmp-officers-families-would-be-traumatized-if-bourque-exhibits-are-released-crown#commentsMon, 17 Nov 2014 17:47:10 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=544359

FREDERICTON — The release of some exhibits entered as evidence at Justin Bourque’s sentencing would traumatize the families of the RCMP officers he shot and others in Moncton, N.B., the Crown argued Monday.

News media organizations including The Canadian Press have asked for access to exhibits used at the sentencing hearing for Bourque, who pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder in the June 4 shooting rampage.

Crown lawyer Cameron Gunn said he supports an open court system and is not against the release of all exhibits. But Gunn said he is opposed to some evidence being made public, including photos of the injured Mounties, radio transmissions of some of the last messages from the officers who were killed and a videotaped interview Bourque gave to police after his arrest.

“We have no issue with the majority of the exhibits. It is only the items that will retraumatize the people who are most traumatized by this.”

Gunn said he is concerned that if Bourque’s police interview were to be released, it would be on the Internet forever.
“Then you give him a voice in perpetuity,” Gunn said. “That cannot be a balance.”

David Lutz, Bourque’s lawyer, said he is also concerned about his client’s police interview having a permanent presence online if it were released.

Lutz used examples of notorious figures from the United States in his argument, referencing Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and cult leader David Koresh. The video would be played repeatedly, he said, possibly making Bourque the “Timothy McVeigh or David Koresh of Canada.”

“The media will only have it for a moment and then will lose control of it,” Lutz said, adding that Bourque told him he doesn’t want people further victimized by the release of his statement to police.

During that interview, which was played in court at his sentencing hearing, Bourque said he shot three RCMP officers dead and wounded two others because he was trying to start a rebellion against a government that he believed was oppressive and corrupt.

David Coles, the lawyer representing the media, has said the public has a right to see and hear the evidence that was used to sentence Bourque to life in prison without parole eligibility for 75 years — the harshest sentence since the last state-sanctioned execution in 1962.

Viktor Pivovarov/The Canadian Press, Moncton Times & TranscriptAccused Moncton shooter Justin Bourque. “If someone from your family rejects what you taught them, that’s their choice and they live with the consequences,” his father says.

Coles has said the evidence should also be made public because while it was presented in open court, not everyone could be there to hear it, and the information it conveys is of interest throughout the country.
Other news organizations that are requesting access to the exhibits are the CBC, CTV News, Global News, the Globe and Mail and Brunswick News.

Tougher parole-eligibility rules introduced by the Conservative government a few years ago — and applied retroactively — violated offenders’ Charter rights not to be punished twice, the country’s highest court has ruled.

When the Conservatives abolished early-parole eligibility for certain offenders in March 2011, it applied those changes to offenders who were already serving their sentences.

Three federal inmates in B.C. complained, saying the old law — which offered day parole to first-time, non-violent offenders who had served one-sixth of their sentence — should apply to them.

The B.C. Supreme Court and the B.C. Court of Appeal agreed, but the federal government appealed. On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada denied the appeal.

The federal government’s decision to apply the tougher parole-eligibility rules retroactively “deprive(d) the three respondents of the possibility of being considered for early day parole, which was an expectation they had had at the time they were sentenced” and “had the effect of punishing the respondents again,” Justice Richard Wagner wrote for the court.

Thursday’s decision dealt another blow to the tough-on-crime Conservatives. Last December, the Supreme Court struck down the country’s prostitution laws saying they violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The court gave the government one year to come up with new legislation.

The latest decision “sends a strong message to the federal government that when it comes to making changes to the criminal justice system, it has to have careful regard to provisions of the Constitution,” said Michael Jackson, a Vancouver lawyer who represented the B.C. Civil Liberties Association as an intervener in the case.

But Jackson said the decision was a bit of a “hollow victory” because the majority of offenders who stood to benefit from it have either reached their regular parole periods or have completed their sentences.

Federal officials remained defiant.

“Our Conservative government has been clear. We do not believe that white-collar criminals and drug dealers should be released after a mere one-sixth of their sentence,” said Jason Tamming, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney.

“The process they use for Charter analysis on government bills is longstanding, and has not changed since the early 1990s.”

The parole-law challenge was launched by three B.C. offenders: Christopher Whaling, convicted of several weapons offences, including weapons trafficking; Judith Lynn Slobbe, convicted of fraud, theft, perjury and forgery; and Cesar Maidana, convicted of cocaine trafficking.

When the Abolition of Early Parole Act took effect on March 28, 2011, it had the immediate effect of delaying Whaling’s day-parole eligibility by three months, Slobbe’s by nine months, and Maidana’s by 21 months.

The government had argued that applying the new law retroactively ensured uniformity in parole administration and would maintain confidence in the justice system.

“But I would point out that the enactment of Charter-infringing legislation does great damage to that confidence,” Wagner wrote.

However, a legal question remains: should early-parole eligibility also be granted to those offenders who were sentenced after March 28, 2011 but who committed their crimes before that date?

Last year, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled that federal inmates William Liang and Leslie McCulloch, serving time for drug offences committed before that date, should be eligible for early day parole under the old law. To deny them that would subject them to “greater punishment than what was in effect at the time of their offences.”

That case is under appeal.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/prisoners-angry-they-cant-get-early-parole-because-of-new-law-had-their-rights-violated-supreme-court-says/feed0stdSCOC Bawdy House Challenge 20131220Romeo Dallaire and Tory MP clash over bill that would make criminals of war memorial vandalshttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/romeo-dallaire-and-tory-mp-clash-over-bill-that-would-make-criminals-of-war-memorial-vandals
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/romeo-dallaire-and-tory-mp-clash-over-bill-that-would-make-criminals-of-war-memorial-vandals#commentsThu, 13 Feb 2014 16:15:19 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=427461

OTTAWA — Anyone caught vandalizing a war memorial should have a criminal record, and judges or Crown attorneys who consider otherwise are inviting the “wrath of the public,” a Conservative MP insists.

Conservative MP David Tilson made the comments under questioning from senators over his private member’s bill that would create minimum fines and jail terms for mischief against war memorials or cenotaphs.

“If you’re convicted of these offences, you should have a criminal record,” Tilson said. “This is a serious matter — it goes beyond mischief.”

His bill was met with concern from some senators who wanted data about the scope of the problem and the scope of change to the Criminal Code being proposed.

Sen. Romeo Dallaire, a retired general who led the ill-fated UN peacekeeping mission during the 1994 Rwanda genocide, questioned the severity of the punishments in the bill.

Senators dubious about Tory MP’s bill making criminals of vandals who deface war memorialsUnder the terms of the bill, anyone caught desecrating a war memorial would face a minimum fine of $1,000 for a first offence; a second offence would bring at least 14 days in jail. Each subsequent offence would carry a minimum 30-day jail term.

The bill would only apply to monuments in Canada — of which there are about 6,700 — and not to memorials overseas, such as those at Vimy Ridge or Juno Beach, Tilson said.

Related

Tilson said the bill doesn’t stop a Crown attorney or judge from having an alternative sentence for vandals, such as community service, but “he or she runs the wrath of the public if they do that.”

“A judge has jurisdiction to do that,” Tilson said. “The whole aim of this bill is to make it severe. The penalties are severe. I sense that you don’t think they should be, but I do.”

Dallaire didn’t sound convinced: ”It’s fine to send someone to rehabilitation after you hit them with a sledgehammer; I don’t know how much that will sink in.”

Tilson introduced the bill after vandals tossed eggs at his community cenotaph in Orangeville, Ont., shortly before Remembrance Day in 2008. In a separate case, on Canada Day in 2006, three people were photographed urinating on the National War Memorial in Ottawa.

The committee continues hearings on the bill.

THE CANADIAN PRESS / Darryl Dyck

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/romeo-dallaire-and-tory-mp-clash-over-bill-that-would-make-criminals-of-war-memorial-vandals/feed1stdmalvernTilsoD.jpgTHE CANADIAN PRESS / Darryl DyckJudge throws Australian in jail for 26 years for pitching his Canadian girlfriend from 15th floor balconyhttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/judge-throws-australian-in-jail-for-26-years-for-pitching-his-canadian-girlfriend-from-15th-floor-balcony
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SuppliedMurdered: Canadian Lisa Harnum plunged to her death from her apartment balcony in Sidney, Australia, in the early morning hours of July 30, 2011. Australian Simon Gittany, 40, has been found guilty of her murder.

SYDNEY, Australia — A Sydney man convicted of throwing his Canadian girlfriend off the balcony of their high-rise apartment in a crime that captivated Australia was sentenced Tuesday to 26 years in prison.

Simon Gittany was convicted by a judge in November of hurling his fiancée , former ballerina Lisa Harnum, from their 15th floor home in a fit of rage in July 2011 after discovering she planned to leave him.

The 40-year-old, who was steadfastly supported in court by a glamorous new girlfriend whom accompanied him to court, maintained his innocence throughout the trial, claiming a suicidal Harnum, 30, slipped and fell after climbing over a railing.

There was testimony about previous violent acts committed by Gittany, which included biting off part of a policeman’s ear in 1994.

Court EvidenceCCTV image shows Lisa Harnum being dragged into into a 15th-floor apartment by her financee Simon Gittany moments before he allegedly threw her off the balcony.

Justice Lucy McCallum said Gittany had shown no remorse and had little prospect of rehabilitation. He must serve a minimum 18 years in prison before he may apply for parole.

Justice McCallum described Gittany as a Jekyll and Hyde personality defined by contradictions – a highly religious man capable of generosity to his family but also of dominating and eventually murdering Harnum.

She found that Gittany’s throwing his fiancee off the balcony was not premeditated as the Crown had claimed, but one based on an intention ”formed suddenly and in a state of rage,” the Sydney Morning Herald reported. It had a ”troubling resonance” with the ear-biting incident nearly 20 years before, with both entailing ”a sudden loss of control and a response of extreme violence to a blameless act.”

”Each involves a form of violence that is shocking and unequivocal,” she said. ”In the case of the malicious wounding, a police officer was performing his duty … In the case of the murder of Ms Harnum, she was attempting to leave the apartment, as was her undoubted right.”

After hearing the sentence, Gittany stared straight ahead and left the court without speaking. His lawyer said outside court there would be an appeal.

During his trial, the court heard Gittany was controlling, had installed CCTV cameras inside the apartment and used a computer program to monitor Harnum’s text messages and emails.

One of the cameras showed him restraining Harnum outside their home and then dragging her back inside on the night she died.

Harnum was heard yelling: “Please help me, help me, God help me.”

The court had heard how sixty-nine seconds before Harnum died, a hallway security camera installed by her jealous fiancé captured him violently dragging her back into their home, his hand over her mouth.

Photo by REXLisa Harnum who died after falling from the 15th floor of an apartment in Sydney, Australia.

Seconds later, the same camera captured Simon Gittany clutching his head in evident distress on his way down to the lobby in an elevator (as revealed in the video below).

Two vastly different theories of her death were floated at his trial.

In the first, a jealous and possessive Gittany took control over Harnum’s life, ordered her not to look at other men, monitored her text messages, and then, in a rage at her attempt to leave him, threw her over the balcony of their rented apartment, purse and all.

A police officer would later find a note torn to bits in her jeans pocket, with a heart-stopping message: “There are surveillance cameras inside and outside the house.”

Her mother Joan, who had travelled from Ottawa to testify, similarly described her daughter’s fearful attempts to leave him.

“I told her if things got really bad, just to grab her passport and purse and get out, that her things don’t matter,” Joan Harnum said.

In the second theory, advanced by Gittany’s defence, a troubled young woman who had been treated for an eating disorder, killed herself, perhaps by accident, in the midst of merely threatening to jump. Or, maybe, she executed a “ballerina style jump” over the railing, which would explain why her fingerprints were not on it.

In closing arguments two weeks ago, Gittany’s lawyer Philip Strickland urged the judge not to disregard the “likelihood that out of desperation, Lisa Harnum voluntarily climbed over the balustrade to escape Simon Gittany or as a cry for attention.”

“Or one can not eliminate the possibility she intended to kill herself,” he said.

He also urged the judge to be skeptical of an eyewitness who testified he saw Gittany, shirtless, unload what he then believed to be garbage from his balcony. The witness was about 200 metres away, and Gittany is wearing a shirt in the videos.

Another witness said he saw Gittany look over the railing, then pump his fist in the air.

Off the balcony, you go!

When the sentence was announced, a member of Gittany’s family in the public gallery was removed from court after yelling: “In the name of Jesus Christ, he won’t do any of that time.”

Reporters said another woman celebrated when the sentence was handed down, shouting “Off the balcony, you go” to Gittany.

His current girlfriend Rachelle Louise, who has fiercely defended Gittany, was noticeably absent for the sentencing. Reports said she had signed a lucrative deal with commercial network Channel Seven to tell her side of the story.

Gittany’s solicitor Abigail Bannister said her client would appeal.

With files from The Daily Telegraph and Joseph Brean, National Post

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/judge-throws-australian-in-jail-for-26-years-for-pitching-his-canadian-girlfriend-from-15th-floor-balcony/feed0stdCCTV image shows Lisa Harnum being dragged into into a 15th-floor apartment by her financee Simon Gittany moments before he allegedly threw her off the balcony.SuppliedNic Gibson/Newspix/REXCourt EvidencePhoto by REXTexas teen again given no jail time for drunk driving crash that killed four, defence argued teen was too rich to carehttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/texas-teen-again-given-no-jail-time-for-drunk-driving-accident-that-killed-four-defence-argued-teen-was-too-rich-to-care
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/texas-teen-again-given-no-jail-time-for-drunk-driving-accident-that-killed-four-defence-argued-teen-was-too-rich-to-care#commentsThu, 06 Feb 2014 15:13:21 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=424224

FORT WORTH, Texas — A judge on Wednesday ordered a Texas teenager who was sentenced to 10 years’ probation in a drunken-driving crash that killed four people to go to a rehabilitation facility paid for by his parents.

Judge Jean Boyd again decided to give no jail time for Ethan Couch, defence attorney Reagan Wynn and prosecutors told reporters after the hearing, which was closed to the public. Prosecutors had asked Boyd to sentence him to 20 years in state custody on charges related to two people who were severely injured.

The sentence stirred fierce debate, as has the testimony of a defence expert who says Couch’s wealthy parents coddled him into a sense of irresponsibility. The expert termed the condition “affluenza.”

Wynn and prosecutor Richard Alpert would not identify the facility where Couch will go or where it is located. The teen’s family previously had offered to pay for Couch to go to a $450,000-a-year rehabilitation centre near Newport Beach, Calif.

AP Photo/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Ben Noey Jr.In this June 16, 2013 photo, cars drive past the scene of a fatal wreck. A North Texas juvenile court judge has sentenced a 16-year-old boy to probation for the crash that killed four people on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013.

Couch, who’s currently in state custody, is expected to receive alcohol and drug rehab, and could face prison time if he runs away from the facility or violates any other terms of his probation, Alpert said.

There is no minimum amount of time Couch must spend in the facility before his release, prosecutor Riley Shaw said.
Wynn ripped the media and the public’s focus on “affluenza” and said that his client was misunderstood.

He said reporting of the Couch case had “so twisted the facts that were actually presented in court that I don’t think the truth will ever be able to come out now.”

“It was ridiculous to think that we walked into court and said, ’Oh, this is a rich white kid,’ and she decided to probate him,” he said.

But Alpert accused Wynn of hypocrisy, pointing out that a defence witness made the comment in the first place.

“His witnesses don’t say things by accident,” Alpert said. “So they thought maybe that would help — that’s my interpretation — and it blew up on them. It was a stupid thing to say.”

Couch’s parents did not speak to reporters as they entered the courtroom. Several relatives of Couch’s victims also attended Wednesday’s hearing.

“The families feel like the same way they felt the last time they were here,” Alpert said.

Asking Boyd to give Couch jail time for intoxication assault was a last-ditch effort by prosecutors, who have said they have almost no way to appeal the judge’s sentence in the case.

Alpert said he hoped the Couch case would lead the Texas Legislature to allow juries to sentence some juvenile defendants. The case has already spurred calls for potential changes. Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who serves as president of the Senate, has asked for a study of sentencing guidelines in intoxication manslaughter cases.

AP Photo/LM OteroTonya Couch, left, and Fred Couch, parents of teenager Ethan Couch, arrive at juvenile court for a hearing about their son's future Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014, in Fort Worth, Texas. Judge Jean Boyd again decided to give no jail time for Ethan Couch, who was sentenced to 10 years' probation in a drunken-driving crash that killed four people, and ordered him to go to a rehabilitation facility paid for by his parents. The sentence stirred fierce debate, as has the testimony of a defense expert who says Couch's wealthy parents coddled him into a sense of irresponsibility. The expert termed the condition "affluenza."

But Wynn lauded Boyd for giving Couch probation and recognizing the possibility that he could be reformed better in a rehab facility that in prison.

“We recognize that 16-year-old kids are different from 25-year-old adults,” he said.

Couch was 16 at the time of the accident. His blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit for an adult and there were traces of Valium in his system when he lost control of his pickup truck and plowed into a group of people helping a woman whose car had stalled.

Seven passengers were riding in Couch’s truck. One, Sergio Molina, is paralyzed and can communicate only by blinking. The other, Solimon Mohmand, suffered numerous broken bones and internal injuries.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/texas-teen-again-given-no-jail-time-for-drunk-driving-accident-that-killed-four-defence-argued-teen-was-too-rich-to-care/feed5stdEthan Couch, center, sits in juvenile court for a hearing about his future Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014, in Fort Worth, Texas. Judge Jean Boyd again decided to give no jail time for Couch, who was sentenced to 10 years' probation in a drunken-driving crash that killed four people, and ordered him to go to a rehabilitation facility paid for by his parents. The sentence stirred fierce debate, as has the testimony of a defense expert who says Couch's wealthy parents coddled him into a sense of irresponsibility. The expert termed the condition "affluenza."AP Photo/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Ben Noey Jr.AP Photo/LM Otero'Oh, my God': Daughter reveals she covered her ears during final moments of dad's 'agonizing' 26-minute executionhttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/oh-my-god-daughter-reveals-she-covered-her-ears-during-final-moments-of-dads-agonizing-26-minute-execution
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/oh-my-god-daughter-reveals-she-covered-her-ears-during-final-moments-of-dads-agonizing-26-minute-execution#commentsFri, 17 Jan 2014 21:18:33 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=415435

The daughter of a convicted killer who took 26 minutes to die during an execution in which he loudly gasped repeatedly, has revealed she was so horrified that she covered her ears so she wouldn’t hear the sounds he made.

Dennis McGuire’s death was the longest execution in Ohio since the state resumed capital punishment 15 years ago, records show. The case has led to cries of cruel and unusual punishment and demands for a moratorium on executions in Ohio.

AP Photo/Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, FileDennis McGuire took 26 minutes to die after being given a never-tried lethal injection method.

The timeline of McGuire’s death indicates he began receiving Ohio’s never-before-tried combination of lethal drugs at 10:27 a.m. Thursday and was pronounced dead at 10:53 a.m.

The next-longest execution was the 22 minutes it took killer Reginald Brooks to die in 2011, according to an analysis of the timelines of the 53 Ohio executions since 1999. Brooks received a lethal dose of a different drug.

McGuire, 53, was put to death for the 1989 rape and fatal stabbing of a pregnant newlywed, Joy Stewart. He was executed with doses of a sedative and painkiller that had never been used before to put an inmate to death in the U.S.

He gasped, made snorting sounds and repeatedly opened and shut his mouth during the execution.

Most inmates over the past 15 years took 15 minutes or less to die, the records show. In years when Ohio’s lethal injection mix consisted of three drugs, many inmates died in less than 10 minutes, according to the records. Also, executions under the old method did not cause the kind of sounds McGuire made.

“The question is whether or not the state of Ohio should duplicate the actions of a criminal. And our answer is no,” Rion said. “If we are going to condemn the actions of a person as being wrong because it creates pain, because it creates victims, because it creates an injustice, because it deprives people of life unjustly, then the state of Ohio should not duplicate those actions.”

AP Photo/Kantele FrankoAmber McGuire, left, recounts the execution of her father, Dennis McGuire, as her sister-in-law Missie McGuire cries at a news conference on Friday.

It’s almost certain lawyers will use McGuire’s execution to challenge Ohio’s plans to put a condemned Cleveland-area killer to death in March.

Prison officials gave McGuire intravenous doses of two drugs, the sedative midazolam and the painkiller hydromorphone. The method was adopted after supplies of a previously used drug dried up because the manufacturer declared it off limits for capital punishment.

McGuire’s lawyers had attempted last week to block his execution, warning that the untried method could lead to a medical phenomenon known as “air hunger” and could cause him to suffer “agony and terror” while struggling to catch his breath.

An attorney for the state of Ohio argued that while the U.S. Constitution bans cruel and unusual punishment, “you’re not entitled to a pain-free execution.”

U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost sided with the state. But at the request of McGuire’s lawyers, he ordered officials to photograph and preserve the drug vials, packaging and syringes.

After McGuire was put to death, his attorney called on Republican Gov. John Kasich to impose a moratorium on executions, as did a state anti-death penalty group.

The execution is also likely to echo across the country as other states contemplate new drug methods, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes capital punishment.

“Judges will now realize that the warnings being raised about these untried procedures are not just false alarms,” he said in an email. “States will now have more of a burden to show that they are using a well-thought-out best practice.”

LUCASVILLE, Ohio — A condemned killer appeared to gasp several times and took more than 15 minutes to die Thursday as he was executed with a combination of drugs never before tried in the U.S.

Dennis McGuire was still for almost five minutes, then emitted a loud snort, as if snoring, and continued to make that sound over the next several minutes. He opened and shut his mouth several times without making a sound as his stomach rose and fell.

“Oh my God,” his daughter, Amber McGuire, said as she observed her father’s final moments. His adult children sobbed in a witness room as they watched him die.

In trying to stop his execution, McGuire’s lawyers had argued that he was at substantial risk of a medical phenomenon known as air hunger, which would cause him to experience terror as he strains to catch his breath.

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McGuire, 53, was sentenced to die for the 1989 rape and fatal stabbing of a young pregnant woman, Joy Stewart. He acknowledged that he was responsible in a letter to Gov. John Kasich last month.

Ohio’s never-tried lethal injection method was adopted after the maker of the state’s previous drug put it off limits for capital punishment.

Some states that still carry out executions have struggled to find drug supplies for lethal injections after companies refused to supply the drugs for that purpose.

Federal public defender Allen Bohnert called McGuire’s death “a failed, agonizing experiment by the state of Ohio.”

Capital punishment continues to be a much-debated subject in the United States. In all, 39 executions were carried out last year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

“I’m going to heaven, I’ll see you there when you come,” McGuire said shortly before his execution. He opened and shut his left hand several times before the drugs took effect, appearing to wave to his children.

Previous executions with the former execution drugs took much less time, and typically did not include the types of snorts and gasps that McGuire uttered.

State attorneys had disputed claims that McGuire would experience terror as he was put to death with the new method.

A lawyer for the state had argued that although the U.S. Constitution bans executions that constitute cruel and unusual punishment, that doesn’t mean procedures are entirely comfortable.

“You’re not entitled to a pain-free execution,” Thomas Madden told a federal judge.

The judge sided with the state but acknowledged the new method was an experiment.

Ohio officials used intravenous doses of two drugs, the sedative midazolam and the painkiller hydromorphone, to put McGuire to death.

Prison officials said McGuire was awake all night talking on the phone and writing letters. He also had emotional final visits with family members, including his son and daughter.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a last-minute request to delay his execution after his legal team argued that a jury never got to hear the full extent of his chaotic and abusive childhood.

“We have forgiven him, but that does not negate the need for him to pay for his actions,” said a statement released by Carol Avery, Stewart’s sister, after McGuire’s death.

An 84-year-old Canadian man with dementia died chained in handcuffs after spending with two weeks locked in a U.K. immigration removal centre last year, a British prison watchdog report has revealed.

The U.K. immigration minister says the use of handcuffs on the man was “completely unjustified.”

The report does not name the man but he has been identified as Alois Dvorzac by U.K. media. According to the report, released by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons Thursday, the Canadian was sent to the London-area Harmondsworth immigration removal centre on January 23, 2013, after he was refused entry into the U.K. at England’s Gatwick airport.

Dvorzac had no family in Canada and was detained while attempting to make his way to Slovenia to find his estranged daughter, the U.K’s Channel 4 reports. Reportedly suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, Dvorzac was unable to give authorities clear answers when questioned.

Dvorzac was at the detention centre for two weeks prior to his death on Feb. 10, 2013.

“We noted … cases of grossly excessive use of restraints during hospital escorts: An 84 year-old man who had been declared unfit for detention was still in handcuffs at the point that he died,” the U.K. chief inspector of prisons says in the report.

“Only after his heart had stopped and cardiopulmonary resuscitation started were the handcuffs removed.”

Sky News/AFP/Getty ImagesTV grab from a helicopter shot shows detainees in Harmondsworth immigration detention centre spelling out the words Help and Freedom with their bed sheets in one of the courtyards 29 November 2006. Police, prison officers and fire crews were called to the centre in the early hours after a number of fires were started.

The man had been wearing the handcuffs for five hours before his death.

The man did not resist or pose “any current specific individual risk,” the report adds.

The prison report cites a doctor declaring the man unfit for detention or deportation and in need of social care on January 30, 2013.

A week later, on February 6, an attempt was made to deport him, but that was halted by another doctor who said he was unfit to fly. A caseworker and on-site immigration team had previously hesitated in allowing him to fly, noting his “vulnerability and lack of contacts in the U.K.”

The U.K. government has called the use of handcuffs in the case “unjustified.”

“The use of restraint in this case seems completely unjustified and must not be repeated. Clear instructions have been issued making clear that restraint should only happen where absolutely necessary,” Immigration minister Mark Harper said.

The Harmondsworth immigration removal centre, near Heathrow Airport, is run by GEO Group U.K., a private correctional firm.

John Moore/Getty ImagesA guard escorts an immigrant detainee from his 'segregation cell' back into the general population at the Geo Group-run Adelanto Detention Facility on November 15, 2013 in Adelanto, California. A Canadian man died in a U.K. detention centre run by Geo.